Barna-Furbo Playground project to commence in mid-July 2014 Mini-fun-seekers to benefit from new maritime-themed playground in Barna village to be known as ‘Lios na nÓg’ (A Magical Place for the Young)

14th July 2014, Barna-Furbo will shortly receive a tremendous boost to its communities with the building of a €132,000 children’s playground in the heart of Barna village. The build phase of the playground will commence on the 21st of July and the equipment is currently scheduled to arrive on-site on the 5th of August, which means the playground will be completed by approximately mid-September. The Crawford Group , who has built a number of award-winning playgrounds, including, Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford and St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, is the contractor for the construction of the playground and associated works. The playground will be known as ‘Lios na nÓg’ which means ‘magical place for the young’ a name chosen by Ronan Reddington of Barna National School following a naming competition with the local schools.

Play itself is a hugely important part of children’s development and having easy access to a local playground boosts physical activity and enhances aerobic endurance, motor coordination and learning abilities. It’s also a great social outlet for parents and families and a place where the community can come together. The theme of the playground will be a maritime/sea-faring one that is based on Barna’s long association with the sea and fishing history and it will provide a great selection of tot-friendly play equipment as well as many items suitable for older children and those with special needs. The equipment is designed to get children swinging, climbing, balancing, running and interacting with each other, while having lots of fun. These activities are proven to enhance a child’s cognitive, emotional, physical, and social development.

Chairperson of Bearna-Furbo Playground project Tracee O’Loughlin has said “This is a very exciting time as construction begins on the playground which will bring such enjoyment and play value to the young children of Barna-Furbo. There will be a great selection of innovative and interesting equipment, including a large pirate ship structure with look-out windows, slides and climbing frames providing that real ‘Wow’ factor. We will announce details of the official opening of the playground in September and hope that all our supporters come out to celebrate this wonderful new addition to our community.”

The playground will be located at Barna Co-Op’s Multi-Use-Games (M.U.G.A.) area, which currently incorporates facilities for tennis, basketball and soccer and also a Pitch & Putt course that is located at Cloch Scoilte in Barna.A grant from Leader of €99,000 has been allocated for the playground and Barna-Furbo Playground committee has fundraised 33,000 euro through events that have been generously supported by the community. If you would like further information or to make a donation to the playground project, please contact Tracee O’Loughlin (086 2028824) or Shauna Cunningham (085 8607674), or visitwww.bearnafurboplayground.com or www.facebook.com/bearnaplayground.

The communities of Barna-Furbo have received a tremendous financial boost with the announcement that Comhar na nOileán Teo., a LEADER Partnership Company, has allocated €98,000 of Leader funding to build a community playground for Bearna-Furbo. In total, approximately €132,000 is required to build the playground in Barna village, with 75 per cent of this provided by the Leader programme and the remaining 25 per cent of the cost of the project to be match-funded by the local community. Clós Súgartha Bhearna-Na Forbacha Playground, the local organisation working on the project, has already raised €29,000 for the project and has approximately €5,000 left to fundraise. It is hoped to begin the building phase of the project in the next 2 months and the playground should be ready by the summer, just in time for the school holidays. The contractor will be The Crawford Group who have already designed and built a number of award-winning playgrounds including Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford and St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, one of the largest playgrounds in Europe.Commenting on the announcement, chairperson of Clós Súgartha Bearna Furbo Playground project Tracee O’Loughlin said; “Our committee is absolutely delighted with this fantastic news that this much needed playground can now proceed which will bring such enjoyment and great play value to the young children and families of our communities. Barna and Furbo have a number of schools and crèches and with so many young children and parents new to the area, it will be wonderful for them to have a focal point to meet and relax and where their kids can have fun playing on state-of the art play equipment which also caters for special needs. And for many kids, these play facilities will be just around the corner from them and they will no longer have to travel by car to other areas of Galway to access play facilities.”She continued; “This playground is the culmination of four years hard work by our dedicated local committee, who overcame a number of significant hurdles to get the project to this stage including the sourcing of suitable land and obtaining full planning permission. We would like to thank Barna Co-Op who worked closely with us on this project and to who gave us their support for building a playground at its Multi Use Games Area (the tennis courts) in Barna, just a short walk from Barna village. We would also like to thank Architect Sean Dockry of Sean Dockry & Associates for his excellent contribution to the project and assistance with the planning process.”Secretary of Barna Furbo Playground Shauna Cunningham said; “It’s heart-warming to see a community really working together and local support has been excellent for this project enabling us to fundraise 29,000 euro in a very short time through our highly popular charity Pop-up shop ‘The Nearly New Shop’ and we’ve also had tremendous support from the many local businesses and clubs who gave us financial contributions. We still need to raise approximately 5,000 euro and we would encourage the community to get behind this final stage of the project by supporting The Nearly New Shop and our upcoming Cash for Clobber campaign. Any individuals or businesses who would like to donate to the project can do so by contacting Tracee O’Loughlin on086 202 8824or Shauna Cunningham on085 8607674.Opening hours for The Nearly New Shop (beside Mulberrys’ Restaurant in Barna village centre):Mon– Fri 9:30am- 1:00pm; Saturday 10:00am – 4:00pm. For further information on the project, please visit our website;www.bearnafurboplayground.comAbout Bearna Furbo Playground Group Clós Súgartha Bhearna-Na Forbacha Playground committee was established in 2010 by a group of mothers and families living in the Bearna/Furbo parish whose aim is to build a playground in Bearna village centre to provide play facilities for young children in the area. The committee members are Tracee O’Loughlin, Shauna Cunningham, Rachel Fahy, Rachel Crawford, Ciara Bradley, Natasha Coffey, Marilyn Reddan, Stephanie Conneely, Dearbhla Geraghty and Janet Connolly.For further press information, please contact;Shauna CunninghamSecretary: Bearna-Furbo Playground project

Bearna-Furbo Playground Project is holding a Fundraiser this Sat., 9th November at 9:30pm in Bearna Golf Club. Popular Galway singer/songwriter and great entertainer Don Stiffe of All-Ireland talent show fame will perform in Bearna Golf Club. Don't miss this opportunity to see this excellent artist perform on your doorstep! Tickets €10 will be available on the door on the night or from The Nearly New Shop in the unit beside Mulberrys' Restaurant in Barna village (open Mon-Fri 09:30-13:00 & Saturdays 10:00-16:00). All proceeds to Bearna-Furbo Playground Project. For further info, please visit

Bearna-Furbo Playground project update: We’re delighted to announce that The Nearly New Shopis back for The Christmas Countdown. All proceeds from the shop go directly to Bearna-Furbo Playground Project. The final push is now on to raise the last 11K to build the playground so we would please ask you to come out and support the shop. By donating or buying at The Nearly New Shop you can help us build a playground in Barna:

Please be advised that Barna Co-Op’s Annual General Meeting (A.G.M.) will take place on Thursday, 20th of June 2013 at 8pm in the Function Room of the Twelve Hotel.

From now on, please note that all correspondence from Barna Co-Op will be by email and/or text. Please send an email from the email address you wish to use for correspondence to bearnacoop@gmail.com and also please include your mobile phone number and a home address to ensure all our records are fully up to date.

A Special General Meeting (S.G.M.) of Barna Co-op has been scheduled for:

Tuesday, 18th of December at 8pm in the Function room of the Twelve Hotel

The purpose of this meeting is to decide the future of a playground at the Barna Co-op lands in Truskey West (the tennis courts). Members will be asked to vote on whether they would like to see a playground being developed in the South-East corner of the land and to decide on whether to ratify the following draft resolution or make modifications to it:

Draft resolution

“That Barna Coop grants the use of the land marked as ‘proposed site’ in the attached map to Clos Sugartha Bhearna-Na Forbacha Playground committee for the construction, operation, maintenance, and, if required, the decommissioning of a playground at the South-East corner of the M.U.G.A. site (the tennis grounds) at Truskey West, Barna, Co. Galway subject to the following conditions:

-That the Barna-Furbo Playground committee becomes a legal entity

-That Barna Coop will not incur any financial or other risk arising from the playground

-That the Barna-Furbo Playground committee will have their own insurance

-That Barna-Furbo Playground committee will minimise the impact of the playground on local residents.”

Please note that Architect Sean Dockery will be making a presentation and the playground committee will also have representatives from Galway County Council and solicitor Benen Fahy of Benen Fahy Associates there to answer any questions. A full report on the playground project will be available at the following locations if you wish to review: The Post Office and the Cillin, Barna Church. The caretaker Pat Clyne at the tennis courts will also have a copy of the report.